The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Tabla and related percussion devices include a generally cylindrical tapering body made from medium hard wood having an interior cavity with a top opening. For the tabla, a skin drum head is installed over the top opening and attached by a single very long strip of thin leather. The drum head includes sixteen holes that are evenly spaced around its perimeter. A bottom rawhide ring is installed over a bottom portion of the body directly opposing the top opening. The leather strip is laced back and forth through the holes of the drum head and around the bottom rawhide until the perimeter of the drum head is completely attached.
Tuning is achieved by stretching the drum head through proper tensioning of the leather strip. To aid in the tensioning, eight tabla blocks are held under the lacing. These blocks are tapped with a tuning hammer to slacken or stretch the leather strip. Movement of the blocks alters the pitch of the drum. Tapping the blocks lower, increases the tension on the leather strip and drum head, and raises the pitch of the drum. Fine tuning can be achieved by tapping the edge of the drum head or leather strip. It is important to have equal tension around the drum for proper tuning.
Simply the attachment and initial tensioning of the drum head is a long and arduous process. Significant force is required to properly tension the leather strip. In the traditional style, each element of slack is taken up by propagating that slack to the end of the leather strip. It can easily take several hours to attach and tension a drum head. Significant force is used over that time, often exhausting the person at the conclusion of the attachment process.
A number of drawbacks arise from this arrangement, in addition to the significant time required to install a drum head. The drum head, leather strip, and rawhide ring are prone to stretch. This means that the elements must be continually adjusted by providing individual attention to each segment of the leather strip, further decreasing the amount of time that the operator may spend actually playing the instrument. Part of the gross adjustment includes moving the tabla blocks downward. Eventually the blocks reach the bottom and must be reinstalled at the top, usually installing these blocks under a greater number of segments.
For many players, it is sometimes desirable to change the pitch of the drum for particular musical pieces. However the time required to adjust the pitch through the propagation of proper tension among the various segments of the leather strip make it impractical to adjust the pitch during a performance. The player either must always use the same pitch, or use multiple drums all tuned to different pitches. The more drums a player has, the entire time investment increases exponentially.
Another challenge is that the drum head is actually a special multilayer assembly. Due to materials or manufacturing variations, the characteristics of a drum head may not be evaluated until it is actually installed and tested. To install and test the drum head, the long and arduous process described above must be performed. It is not uncommon that a newly installed drum head fails to perform adequately and must then be replaced, again with the uncertainty of its characteristics. This is undesirable from the perspective of the player, manufacturer, and retailer.
A turnbuckle solution is infrequently used in which sixteen discrete adjustable straps are applied to the drum head and rawhide ring. Each turnbuckle must be independently adjusted. This solution is problematic because of the amount of time necessary, the bulky mechanism required, the loss of the tuning pegs in the system, drilling into the side of the drum shell (which can both damage it and change the acoustics), and altering the aesthetics of the drum.
What is needed is a system and method for quickly and efficiently installing a drum head on a tabla and controlling the tension of individual segments simultaneously.